02/14/2026
Grantville! Did you know that we have not one, but TWO ghosts haunting this city? Yup! We have Katie from Grandma Branch Rd and Mary who resides in Bonnie Castle! (There's probably more, but these are the ones I'm aware of.)
Did you also know that we have completely under-utilized this fact?!
How we don't have a yearly festival dedicated to the local lore is beyond me.
Imagine if we fixed this grave error! (Pun definitely intended)
We'll call it "The Grantville Spool and Spirit" festival for now. It's a call back to the mill roots and our local ghosts.
I know it sounds like a Halloween festival, but it doesn't have to be, it can be any time of year. Maybe based on when the apparitions were first seen or something like that.
Or, it could be our yearly Halloween festival, although I would set it up earlier in the month so as not to compete with the bigger cities Halloween festivals. I don't know, those details we can figure out.
What doesn't need to be figured out is that this isn't just a one day trunk or treat, nope. This is a weekend long ode to our ghostly residents.
It starts Friday night when the residents of Grantville all gather downtown, dressed in their best late early 1900's attire (the era from when the Ghosts came I'm told), there's a jazz band playing in the main courtyard, but the festival doesn't officially start until the crowd hears a faint whistle that grows louder and louder UNTIL......a ghostly visitor appears on the deck of the freight depot! (someone dressed as Mary or Katie) And in a ghostly, eerie voice she declares that downtown is being invaded by the ghosts, and that no amount of excitement, happiness or fun will make the ghost leave. So it's up to us as a city to prove them wrong by having a whole weekend of fun!
The festival will continue on Saturday (I'll still be wearing my 1900s outfit, but I GUESS it isn't required....but we should encourage it.) with haunted hay rides and tours, food vendors, tarot card readings, face painting, ghosts and ghouls through the city, art shows, an oddities museum, music all day (not just jazz) and the freight depot holds a haunted house in the evening.
The fun continues through Sunday evening culminating with the City Council declaring that enough fun has been had and banishing the ghosts out of downtown and back to where they came.
Imagine Grantville! Every other city has their festivals, but nothing as cool as this could be!
Let me know what you think!